Wanna see our humble abode?

There it is. It's cute. And cozey. And country. And I love it.

Make and Share Monday & A Sweet Baby

Another entry for Make and Share Monday. Now I know that last month Kristy said she quit doing Make and Share Monday but I'm not one to follow directions. So pop on over to her blog and pester her about where her crafty Monday goodies are. While I'm working on some other crafty things, as usual I have some scrapbook pages to show. Honestly it's been beyond hard to find time to scrap this month, with the new baby and all. I also knit the baby a hat and I'll post that too :)

I was going to start with the scrap pages but man, this face..... I can hardly stand looking at it, it's so gorgeous. Here's two of the sweet things I made recently. This light blue knit baby hat and the lovely squishy baby underneath. If this picture doesn't make you ache for a baby, I don't know what to say.
Second, if you don't read with a feeder, you would have already seen my next crafty thing. I redid my blog template. I wanted to learn to do those static templates you see floating around everywhere. So here it is :)

It's been a while since I posted a couple scrapbook pages. Here's a couple of the new baby:

Everything from these layouts (and most of my blog design though not all) is from a great store called Scraporchard. The ladies there are super friendly and outgoing so if you're looking for a nice place to hang out and learn how to scrap and of course a great store filled with amazing scrap goodies, SO is on that list! I'm actually a team member there and have been blown away by just how wonderful the ladies that call that their scrap home are. I've worked at a number of digital scrapbook stores, but honestly from the minute I started on the team there I've really been overwhelmed with how good hearted everyone is. Was a HUGE added bonus for making it on their team.

If you have any questions about digiscrapping, he sure to comment and I'll answer next Monday. I'm going to start work again on some tutorials about getting started scrapping. Until next Monday...

Make and Share Monday - Aug 10th, I mean Wednesday

**Note I never got around to finish this, so I'm leaving it half done and posting it anyways so I can finally move on with my life. I've been paralyzed you know with the feeling that something was missing**

On to another Make and Share Monday Er... Wednesday. So of course there's more scrapbook pages and hey, some dishcloth pictures. I DO do things off this computer you know!

So first things first, layouts from this week or two :)

See Flower Picking full credits HERE

See Your Light Shines full credits HERE

One of the things that inevitably happens to every single person who starts digital scrapbooking is downloading and using all sorts of "freebie" kits and later hating every page they did because they had NO idea what was good quality and poor quality digital scrapbook supplies. Happens to just about everyone. My last M&SM I talked about what digital scrapbooking is, what programs to look at and use, etc. So today I'm going to lead you to where to find good quality, FREE, supplies to get started. Cause honestly there's nothing like looking at an old page with embellishments that look like cartoons when you wanted realism, etc.

First and foremost. The first place most experienced digiscrappers think of with free kits is Shabby Princess. http://www.shabbyprincess.com/downloads.asp There's 22 FREE full kits there to download. And every one is high quality and won't let you down. Gorgeous stuff there.

Make and Share Monday - July 20th

Time for another Make and Share Monday..... This week is hosted by Kristy. Run over and join in!

Of course I have digital layouts to share, and we'll start talking digital scrapbooking. Today will just be a little intro....

Let's take a look at these layouts I did this last week and we'll go from there.

What is digital scrapbooking?

Basically digital scrapbooking is making scrapbook pages on the computer in a photo editing program that can be printed out later. No paper to cut, mess to make, everything is 100% on the computer until it's time to print.

Why digital scrap? What are the benefits?

• No mess. Nothing to store, leave out on the table, no mess. It's all on the screen in front of you. Nothing for a two year old to decide would be great to pour his glass of milk on.
  
• Undo (lol) You can undo every mistake. I love love love this :)
• Price. It can be downright cheap to free to do this!
  
• AND you can reuse those supplies ENDLESSLY. Nothing EVER gets used up!!! I can use the same kit 14,998 times if I want.
• and of course you can change the color of things.... so it can match perfectly... or hey that cool flower you used the other day? Recolor it to match this new layout you're doing. Twice the bang for you buck.
• You can easily print copies of your pages for family members.
  
• If your scrapbook gets wet or colored on with Sharpie by a two year old, you can reprint them!
• I'm sure I'm missing a million more things!
  

What do you need to digital scrapbook?

• Digital Camera or Scanner to scan hard copy pictures
• A photo editing program such as Adobe Photoshop (PS), Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE), Jasc Paint Shop Pro (PSP), Microsoft Digital Image Pro (DIP), Ulead Photo Impact (PI), Corel Draw, Lumix Foto Fusion, Memory Mixer or any kind of program that supports .png files & layers. If you have any of those already you could feasibly get started. There is a free program called gimp that you can download at gimp.org. (I should note that my personal suggestion to everyone is to use Photoshop Elements from the beginning if they can afford the $70 to buy it)
• Patience to learn a new program
• That's it! Maybe some creativity, but hey even then, do your best and move on

How does it work?

In many ways digital scrapbooking mimics paper scrapbooking. You choose your pictures, your papers, your decorative elements, and arrange them on a page to your liking. Add a title and journaling and done. But in digital, you will be using digital versions of papers and embellishments. The photo editing programs work in layers just like in real life so you can move a paper under a photo, put a ribbon above the photo and so on. Then it can be printed out and put into the sleeve of a normal scrapbook.

How much does it cost?

Aside from the startup should you choose to buy a program (which is under $100 for a great great program), digital scrapbooking can be as cheap or expensive as you'd like. There are endless free resources, kits, embellishments out there. You could do the actual page making for free if you choose. Over time, it becomes more and more fun and tempting to buy kits now and then but at $3-$6 for something that can be used indefinitely. Some people spend hundreds a month, while another can spend nothing!
What about printing?

As we talk about cost, let's talk printing. You CAN print at home, but I don't and never will. It's just not economical. Digital scrapbook layouts print just like a normal digital photo! So you can print them at your local photo center! Costco, Walgreens, Walmart, whatever. I like to print in 8x8 so a cheap 8x10 picture which is about a buck a layout. If you want to print 12x12 for a big scrapbook, you can print those from many online sources, and even at Costco! They cost around $2.50-$3 at Costco. Less on sale at places like scrapbookpictures.com when they have sales.

And there's photo books! You can for less than a dollar a layout print them into nice NICE bound books from places like snapfish, winkflash, shutterfly, all dot coms.

So there's our little introduction into digital scrapbooking. Next week hopefully I'll nab a few tutorials, show you the best places to find good quality free digiscrap goodies, etc.